Tag Archives: almond

I showed the Fruitarian the pictures of this easy chocolate fudge, and he immediately chimed in with, “Is that available?”

The Fruitarian, for those who don’t know, is my 16 year old son. I also call him The Hungry One. And The Chocoholic. And The Sugar Addicted. I knew he would be all over that fudge.

However, he has a little problem where he doesn’t like nuts. It makes me wonder if he was switched at birth. I couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass me by.

“Of course you can have some fudge. But there’s a problem. It has almonds.”
“Well, it also has coconut.”
“But what will you do about the almonds?”
“I think I can suffer through them.”
“You know, I’m going to remember this.”

I’m sure there are plenty of fun and fancy ways to add coconut and almonds to fudge. (Layers, anyone?)

But seriously, I was having one of those what-can-I-throw-together-in-5-minutes kind of days. Tell me I’m not alone.

It seems like it’s worse in December. All that shopping and going to parties and gift-exchanging lunches with friends takes a lot of time, you know. A girl can’t spend her whole life in the kitchen, can she? (See related post: Black and White Fudge)

In the end, I can promise you this takes less than 10 minutes to throw together, and maybe an hour in the fridge to set. Maybe less. You could be eating it by the time your favorite tv show is over.

Just be sure to put a few pieces in the freezer BEFORE your teenage son sees that there is fudge in the house!

You’ll love this shortbread fingers recipe! Have fun with these finger cookies for Halloween, and snack pack pudding cups.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. Please visit SnackPacks for more info on the product, or search for #SnackPackMixins on social media. #CollectiveBias

Sometimes my kids are the envy of the school cafeteria.

I mean, they show up with different fun cookies and treats in their lunches frequently, and the other kids are often asking for samples. The Hippie Chick actually asked me to put extra cookies in her lunchbox this week, so she could share with her friends.

Fine with me, I have a whole jar full of them.

It did inspire me, though, to come up with some more fun seasonal treats that the kids could share with their friends. Since it’s almost Halloween, I figured some blood was in order.

Not real blood. Just something reminiscent of blood. Something reminiscent of blood and edible.

Shortbread was the perfect cookie for this job, because in addition to being really tasty, shortbread doesn’t spread much when it is baked. I basically keeps the same shape it had before baking.

I shaped some “fingers” out of this shortbread, by making 4-inch by 1-inch logs, then adding a little extra dough in two spots for knuckles. I used a knife to cut some wrinkles into the knuckles before baking, and a slice of almond made a perfect fingernail.

And the blood? For this, I turned to Snack Pack Pudding! I used a Vanilla pudding cup, and added some red food coloring, and mixed it in. It’s not very realistic blood, (for that matter, they are not very realistic fingers) but it is reminiscent of blood, not too scary for little kids, and most certainly edible.

It’s kind of nice that these pudding cups are available in so many places. I found it at Walmart. You can find it on the baking aisle, or sometimes in a special display like this one.

Form a disc with the dough, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.

Use pieces of the chilled dough to form 4-inch long by 1-inch wide logs. Press small dots of dough into two spots on the log to form knuckles. Use a knife to cut 3-4 wrinkles in the knuckles. Press an almond slice on one end for a fingernail.

Place on a baking sheet, and bake at 350F for 15-18 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack.

It’s been a rough week around here. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, in this little family has been sick.

Fortunately for us, Robb got sick before the rest of us, and is now able to take care of us without worry of catching this horrible flu. This stupid thing knocked me flat on my back for an entire week so far. It will probably be more than that when it’s all said and done.

Honestly, it’s kind of nice to have this blog to voice my thoughts, because I’m certainly not voicing anything out loud today.

You know what you do when everyone is sick? You buy paper plates. And plastic spoons. And lots and lots of cold cereal.

I told my kids they have no imagination when it comes to cold cereal. All they do, day in and day out, is pour it in a bowl and cover it with milk. It’s a tragedy, when you think about it, because there is so much more that can be done with it!

To prove my point, I turned my box of Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds into a crust for these cheesecake bars.

Well, I didn’t use the whole box for the crust. The rest of it will probably be poured into bowls and covered with milk.

By the way, if you hurry, you can grab your own box of Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds (or another Post cereal you like) for just $1.99 at Walgreens. Pretty good deal, I think.

Nothing against apples or cheesecake, but I love this crust. It’s my favorite part. It’s nutty and sweet, and you would probably never suspect it uses cold cereal as its main ingredient.

Plus, it gives us a fun little treat to snack on between the coughing fits!

If you enjoy this recipe, you might also enjoy:

apple cheesecake bars recipe

Linzer Cookies Recipes; These cookies use ground almonds and plum jelly for a lovely flavor. Try this linzer cookies recipes this season.

It never occurred to me to have a favorite jam or jelly. I just like them all. Strawberry, raspberry, apricot, plum… I like them all.

My mom’s favorite is plum jam, and since grandma has a plum tree, I’ve made jam a couple times. I’m not going to lie, it’s fantastic stuff. Plus it’s easy as pie to make, because you don’t have to peel the fruit, you put it in the jam with skins on.

Then there is my diligent and hard working sister-in-law. She made plum jelly this year (no fruit) which is far more difficult. You have to cook it down and strain it before you can even turn it into jelly. “Why are you doing all this work?” I asked her. “Because I don’t like jam.”

Not that I blame her, I guess we all have our quirky little food preferences that we will go to great lengths to work around.

She gave me a jar of the most beautiful dark and flavorful plum jelly you’ve ever seen. It’s tart, full of flavor, and frankly, tastes fantastic with these almond Linzers. I debated about parting with it but finally decided the cookies were worth it. It’s still cookie week, by the way. I hope you’ve been checking in and enjoying all the fantastic cookie recipes we’ve created for you. Let’s have a quick recap, shall we?

I’ve been feeling a touch stressed about the coming school year. All three of my kids will be going to brand new schools this year, and I don’t exactly know what to expect. I’m one of those people who prefers to know what I’m getting into, so it’s making me really uncomfortable.

I’m also realizing that like it or not, this family will need to be morning people. The kids and Robb all need to be out the door by 7:00, and for a woman who prefers to get up around 8:00 or 8:30, this is a real problem.

I’ve been preparing everyone by telling them that breakfast will be served at 6:30, and they are to be dressed and at the table by that time. Whether or not that will actually happen is up for debate.

I realize that this means I will need to be up by 6:00 at the latest, and depending on what I’m serving for breakfast, maybe even sooner. This idea does NOT thrill me. I can do it… I just don’t want to.

In the meantime, I am auditioning new recipes for our early morning breakfast line up, and I think I found a winner in this one.

Honestly, it’s a testament to how simply perfect it is, because generally I’m one for super-sweet, super-chocolatey, completely decadent, over-the-top desserts. This cake is the exact opposite. Simple, not too sweet, unassuming, unfrosted, and gorgeous.

The book says it’s called a visiting cake because you can see your neighbors coming up the road, and throw this cake together before they get to the front door. It’s just about right, too.

This recipe isn’t exactly like Dorie’s, mainly because I really wanted to make a buttermilk cake. Oh, buttermilk, the love of my culinary life. So I merged Dorie’s visiting cake with a blueberry buttermilk cake I found here, to create this deliciously simple almond buttermilk cake.

It was raining when I made it, too, which somehow seemed rather apropos. This thing was easy like Sunday morning. (I may or may not be listening to Lionel Richie while writing this.)

Did I just date myself?

Speaking of simple and uncluttered, I recently discovered this sugar called Zulka. This stuff is unrefined and less processed than the regular stuff, not to mention it catches the light and looks really cool and sparkly.

The awesome people at Zulka sent me a bag to try, and somehow this cake seemed the perfect fit for the unrefined sugar.

My opinion? Well, the stuff is easy to find (I found it at Walmart), the difference between Zulka and regular sugar is pretty small, and the price difference is very small too. So, if you’re the health-conscious, worried-about-genetically-modified-foods type, you’ll love Zulka. I am decidedly not worried about genetically modified foods, but I do like how pretty and sparkly this sugar is.

Is that shallow? Probably.

I guess it’s that time of day, now. Time for me to fight the urge to eat cake for dinner.

And it’s time for you to enter this awesome giveaway. You could win your own bag of sparkly unrefined Zulka sugar!

{Giveaway now closed.}

Brown Sugar Cake

Almond Shortbread

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake

Disclaimer: I was given a free sample of Zulka sugar to review, but all my opinions are my own.
There are affiliate links included in this post, which I may earn money from. I promise not to spend it all in one place.

Just so everyone is clear, let me begin today’s post with an explanation.

When my sister-in-law first introduced me to these Almond Balls, they weren’t what I expected. I mean, there’s not a lot of almond in those balls. Maybe I should have titled them “Chocolate Almond Balls” or “Chocolate Cream Pie Balls” or something like that. They are mostly chocolate, rolled in… not almonds… cookie crumbs.

Robb is taking some time off for the holidays, and he is super concerned that I’m going to spend that time blogging. (Who? Me?!) “Why don’t you just do a bunch of baking, and get all your posts ready ahead of time?” he says.

Sure. No Problem. Like I don’t already have gifts to buy and wrap, cards to create and send, friends to meet with, parties to attend, afghans to knit, holiday music to practice and perform, to say nothing of the dishes, laundry, house cleaning, dinner making, parenting and other responsibilities I am already behind on.

No problem. I’ll just squeeze a half dozen new recipes in between the morning carpool and my shower. Hmpf.

Every year, my sis-in-law and I spend a day baking for the holidays. We make things you need two people for, like pumpkin rolls, and graham cracker pudding, and enough sugar cookies to feed an army. Tucked in among the complicated recipes are these super duper easy little balls of chocolate delight.

People ask me all the time, “Jen, is it weird having a 15 year old, when you yourself are only 25?”

Well, yes it is, now that you mention it.

You know what else is weird? How many times I’ve turned 25. I mean my friends keep getting older every year, and I just keep staying 25. *ahem*

At my most recent 25th birthday (which was just a few weeks ago), my name-sharing BFF Jen gave me these adorable as heck cupcake-shaped cookie cutters. I mean, seriously… how cute are these?!

She also gave me an actual cupcake. From One Sweet Slice. {a.k.a. Heaven} If you haven’t heard of them, One Sweet Slice is a local cupcake bakery that not too long ago won an episode of Cupcake Wars. They claim to have award-winning cupcakes, brownies, and other stuff.

They claim correctly. It’s lucky I don’t live closer to this place. Seriously.

The only problem I have now is deciding what kind of cookie dough to turn into cupcake-shaped cookies. Which is not a real problem at all.

This resulted in the single ugliest cookie I have ever seen in my life. EPIC Failure.

I spent a few days licking my wounds about it, too, before I decided to make something that will really keep it’s shape, so I can see the cute cupcake… Shortbread Cookies.

This resulted in the second ugliest cookie I have ever seen in my life. ANOTHER epic failure.

I really wish I could describe with words what I suspect the look on my face is describing right now. What’s the word? Frustration? Anger? Barely contained psychotic rage? Let’s just say I was NOT. HAPPY.

Yield: A mega-ton. I made regular sized cookies and ended up with more than 6 dozen. If you make the large 5-inch version that MBA suggests, you’ll end up with less than 2 dozen.

There’s a Bill Cosby bit about how Americans can eat anything, as long as they have two pieces of bread. Our sons were talking about this idea with their dad, on the drive to their boys-only camping trip last night. It turned out to be a very pertinent discussion, because I sent tin foil dinners with them, and they ended up with no fire in which to cook them. They powered through their evening fueled by Doritos on hard rolls, some theater candy, and soda.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the princess and I were having a lovely evening of fun and friends, fueled by giant marshmallows and white chocolate. She then flitted off to a friends for the evening, and I was left home alone. In the 12 years we have lived in this house, I’m almost positive this is the first night I have spent in the house completely alone. How was it? Blissfully quiet, truth be told.